From the first wreck in 1622 off Western Australia to the tragedy of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Evan McHugh captures all the drama of Australia's maritime history. There are swashbuckling mutineers, violent storms, uncharted reefs, enemy warships, as well as ripping yarns about Dutchmen and lascars, Aborigines and escaped convicts. In producing this remarkable book, McHugh has made extensive use of first-hand accounts and contemporary records. With characteristic flair, he also delves into the mysteries and controversies that still surround so many of the wrecks. Shipwrecks is a white-knuckle voyage through chaos and tragedy which proclaims the courage and strength of the human spirit. It is a powerful reminder that even in the twenty-first century, the sea remains a great, unconquered frontier.

From the first wreck in 1622 off Western Australia to the tragedy of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Evan McHugh captures all the drama of Australia's maritime history. There are swashbuckling mutineers, violent storms, uncharted reefs, enemy warships, as well as ripping yarns about Dutchmen and lascars, Aborigines and escaped convicts. In producing this remarkable book, McHugh has made extensive use of first-hand accounts and contemporary records. With characteristic flair, he also delves into the mysteries and controversies that still surround so many of the wrecks. Shipwrecks is a white-knuckle voyage through chaos and tragedy which proclaims the courage and strength of the human spirit. It is a powerful reminder that even in the twenty-first century, the sea remains a great, unconquered frontier.

Disasters have always occurred in Australia, even before European settlement began in 1788. Such is the geography and climate of the 'Great South Land' that disasters such as bushfires, cyclones, storms, floods, drought and heatwaves are natural phenomena. They also tend to be seasonal and can be successive: bushfires follow periods of drought or heatwave, and floods follow cyclones or storms. The original inhabitants as well as those who came after the First Fleet have had to learn to live with these and to find ways to overcome the impacts. Australia has also occasionally been affected by natural disasters not commonly associated with this part of the world, including earthquakes, tornadoes and landslides. While most do not result in loss of human life or major damage, they are significant owing to their rarity. People tend to equate disasters with loss of human life and this book includes most of the disasters in Australia that have resulted in loss of life. There have been a number with significant loss of life, including Cyclone Mahina in 1899, the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983, the Gundagai floods of 1852, Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and the Granville bridge collapse in 1977. There have been also been many where although fewer lives were lost there was a great damage toll on buildings and property, such as the Newcastle earthquake in 1989, the Sydney hail storm of 1999 and the northern Tasmanian floods of 1929. Structural fires are also commonly placed in the disaster category because they are so costly in terms of fatalities, injuries and damage. Many people, however, don't include economic or agricultural impact among the criteria for disasters, which means drought and heatwaves are often disregarded. However, these are synonymous with Australia and many have taken a great toll. This book is part of Exisle Publishing's Little Red Books series. Every title in the Little Red Books series provides an overview of key events, people or places in Australian history. They cover the essentials, bringing the reader up to speed on the most important, fascinating or intriguing facts. Appealing to everyone from students to pensioners who've always wanted to "know a bit about that", they're an essential part of every Australian bookshelf.

A highly illustrated voyage through shipwrecks ancient and contemporary. Out of the Depths explores all aspects of shipwrecks across four thousand years, examining their historical context and significance, showing how shipwrecks can be time capsules, and shedding new light on long-departed societies and civilizations. Alan G. Jamieson not only informs readers of the technological developments over the last sixty years that have made the true appreciation of shipwrecks possible, but he also covers shipwrecks in culture and maritime archaeology, their appeal to treasure hunters, and their environmental impacts. Although shipwrecks have become less common in recent decades, their implications have become more wide-ranging: since the 1960s, foundering supertankers have caused massive environmental disasters, and in 2021, the blocking of the Suez Canal by the giant container ship Ever Given had a serious effect on global trade.

Previous ed.: published by Evan McHugh, 1999.

An invaluable guide for maritime archeologists, recreational divers, historians and others interested in the drama adventure and romance of Western Australia's rich maritime history.

From the first convict runaways to the spectacular showdown that ended Ned Kelly's career, Evan McHugh delivers true tales of daring exploits and audacious deeds. These are incredible stories of the men - and women - who achieved fame not just by what they did, but by the way they did it. There are those who lifted themselves from downtrodden underdogs to heroes, such as Bold Jack Donohue, brave Ben Hall and Captain Thunderbolt as well as villains like Pearce the Cannibal and Mad Dog' Morgan. Bushrangers is as fast paced as a stolen thoroughbred and as arresting as a squad of troopers. Through extensive first-hand accounts and gripping detail about Australia's lawless past, bestselling author Evan McHugh brings a life cast of roguish characters who blazed their way into Australian history.

Published in Association with the Western Australian Museum 'Swallowed by the Sea' tells the stories of Australia's greatest and most tragic shipwrecks, lost in raging storms, on jagged reefs, under enemy fire, or through human error, treachery or incompetence. It includes wrecks from all corners of Australia, from 1622 to as recently as 2010, from clipper ships to colonial schooners to East Indiamen. Read about the oldest known wreck in Australian waters, the Tryal, driven into a maze of sunken rocks by the inept Captain Brookes, and about the loss of emigrant barque Cataraqui, which struck a reef off King Island in the middle of a stormy night, drowning more than 400 people. The violent wrecking of ships is only part of the story. Maritime archaeologist Graeme Henderson has personally located and dived many of the shipwrecks in this book. Alongside his accounts are colour underwater photographs of the dive sites with specially written recollections by members of the diving crew.

The men and women you'll meet in this fascinating book come in all shapes and sizes, from convicts and engineers to cattleduffers and anthropologists. These remarkable Australians share an extraordinary ability to survive the rigours of the bush. In Outback Heroes, Evan McHugh brings together his favourite ripping yarns from the Australian frontier. He begins with escaped convict William Buckley, who emerged from the forest after thirty-two years in the wild; re-examines the legends of the Man from Snowy River and Waltzing Matilda; recounts one of the most stunning rescues in Australian history; and relives the 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony. These and other true stories of courage and ingenuity remind us how the Australian character was forged – through encounters with the bush, desert and outback.

'For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know.' From the High Country to the Outback, there are extraordinary stories of the men and women who have travelled across Australia behind mobs of cattle, sheep and horses. These quiet achievers, of every race and creed, forged an Australian legend. Evan McHugh brings alive the hapless convicts attempting to round up the First Fleet's escaped cattle on foot; overlanders blazing through trackless wilderness to supply the vast stations carved from the bush; stockmen who risked blizzards to bring cattle to alpine pastures; and drovers who crossed the continent behind the largest mobs of cattle the world has ever seen. These stories overflow with colourful characters: cattle-duffers like Harry Redford, renowned boss drovers like Nat Buchanan and strong women like Edna Zigenbine and Red Jack, who could measure up to any man. They lived a life most of us only dream about and came to love the beauty of Australia's most famous and infamous stock routes, including the Birdsville, Murranji and Strzelecki tracks, and the Canning stock route. McHugh's meticulous research and vivid eye for detail is the closest you'll get to saddling up your moke and poking a mob of cattle off camp. PRAISE FOR EVAN McHUGH 'McHugh tells the stories of these great achievers simply and without romantic or other embellishment, which is how these characters would have wanted it.' – COURIER-MAIL